1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a maintenance device, a liquid ejecting apparatus, and a maintenance method.
2. Related Art
An ink jet type printer including a liquid ejecting head which performs printing in such a manner that the liquid ejecting head ejects ink droplets onto a medium, such as a paper sheet, a wiper which wipes ink adhering to the liquid ejecting head, and a wiper cleaner which absorbs and removes the ink adhering to the wiper is known as an example of a liquid ejecting apparatus (for example, JP-A-2013-188965).
The wiper cleaner described above includes an ink absorbing material capable of absorbing ink and removes the ink adhering to the wiper, in an absorbing manner. Accordingly, when the ink absorbing material absorbs the ink by the amount corresponding to the absorption capacity thereof, the ink absorbing material cannot absorb more ink. Then, when the wiper comes into contact with the ink absorbing material in a state where the ink absorbing material cannot absorb more ink, the ink held in the ink absorbing material adheres to the wiper. As a result, there is a problem in that the wiper becomes contaminated, contrary to expectations.
Such a problem is not limited to a printer which performs printing in such a manner that ink droplets are ejected but is generally shared by a maintenance device having a function of cleaning the wiper for wiping a target object, a liquid ejecting apparatus, and a maintenance method.